A veteran civil rights leader has accused Republican John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin of "sowing the seeds of hatred and division". Democratic congressman John Lewis said their campaign reminded him of the segregationist era of Alabama Governor George Wallace.
"I am deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign," said Mr Lewis, an Obama supporter, civil rights icon and Georgia Democrat in the US House of Representatives.
"What I am seeing today reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse," he said in comments posted on his re-election website.
Noting that Wallace, a divisive political figure in his day, had also run for president, Mr Lewis said: "He created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights.
"Senator McCain and Governor Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all," Mr Lewis added.
Mr McCain branded the remarks "shocking and beyond the pale" and called on Mr Obama to immediately repudiate them.
The Arizona senator said: "The notion that legitimate criticism of Senator Obama's record and positions could be compared to Governor George Wallace, his segregationist policies and the violence he provoked is unacceptable and has no place in this campaign.
"I am saddened that John Lewis, a man I've always admired, would make such a brazen and baseless attack on my character and the character of the thousands of hardworking Americans who come to our events to cheer for the kind of reform that will put America on the right track," McCain added.
The Obama campaign said while Mr Lewis was right to condemn "hateful rhetoric" the Illinois senator did not believe Mr McCain or his policy criticism were comparable to Wallace or his segregationist policies as governor of Alabama in the 1960s.
Mr Lewis's comments follow widely reported outbursts of anger against Mr Obama at McCain campaign events. Mr McCain on Friday had urged his supporters to be respectful of his Democratic rival.
The issue of race has mostly been an undercurrent in the presidential contest between Mr McCain and Mr Obama, who would be America's first black president, and it remains unknown how much of a factor it will play in the November 4th vote.
Reuters